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STRATFORD PERTH MUSEUM

SEASON: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter

LOCATION: 4275 Huron Road, west of the city

WEBSITE: www.stratfordperthmuseum.ca/

HIGHLIGHT: The history of Stratford and Perth County

The Stratford Perth Museum offers a glimpse into the lives of the people of Stratford and Perth County as an indoor and outdoor experience. The five-acre site consists of an 1870 Victorian brick home, woodlots, and a network of trails. The museum’s collection of over 20,000 items covers life in the area from the early 1800s to today. As one of the oldest ongoing collections in Ontario, it reflects the growth of the community with railway equipment, furniture, quilts, clothing, military objects, medical equipment, and agricultural, industrial, and architectural artifacts. Current exhibits are topical whether relating to a Stratford Festival production, an anniversary of a historical event, or the life of a young Stratford star like Justin Bieber. Outdoors, a path a little under a kilometre in length is lined with historical storyboard descriptions of people and events. Other trails are set up for hiking in the summer and snowshoeing in the winter. If you don’t have snowshoes, you can rent them at the museum. Weather permitting you’ll find an ice rink on the front lawn for free skating.

The museum offers summer camp and programs for schools, children, adults, and families. Choices range from using a printing press, orienteering, and celebrating holiday traditions, to tea parties. You can join the historical fun by attending the annual Innkeeper’s Dinner fundraiser in April, Flavours of Perth barbecue in August, or the Shine On historic car rally, with guides and reenactors, in October. Your car doesn’t have to be an antique.

In 2018, over twenty thousand visitors toured the Justin Bieber: Steps to Stardom exhibit.